Many different kinds of food loaves are produced; they come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. There are meat loaves made from various different meats, including ham, pork, beef, lamb, turkey, and fish. The meat in the food loaf may be in large pieces or may be thoroughly committed. These meat loaves come in different shapes (round, square, rectangular, oval, etc.) and in different lengths up to four feet (122 cm) or even longer. The cross-sectional sizes of the loaves are quite different; the maximum transverse dimension may be as small as 1.5 inches (4 cm) or as large as ten inches (25.4 cm). Loaves of cheese or other foods come in the same great ranges as to composition, shape, length, and transverse size.
Typically the food loaves are sliced, the slices are grouped in accordance with a particular weight requirement, and the groups of slices are packaged and sold at retail. The number of slices in a group may vary, depending on the size and consistency of the food loaf and the desire of the producer, the wholesaler, or the retailer. For some products, neatly aligned stacked slice groups are preferred. For others, the stacks are shingled so that a purchaser can see a part of every slice through a transparent package.
Food loaves can be sliced on high speed slicing machines such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,628,237 or 5,974,925 or as commercially available as the FX180™ slicer available from Formax, Inc. of Mokena, Ill., U.S.A.
The FX180™ machine can be configured as an automatically loaded, continuous feed machine. In the FX180™ machine, side-by-side upper and lower conveyor pairs drive loaves into the cutting plane. A gate is located in front of the conveyors. The initial loaves are loaded with leading ends abutting the gate. The gate is lowered and the loaves proceed into the conveyors. When the initial loaves are sliced to the extent that the trailing ends of the loaves clear the gate, the gate is raised and new loaves are loaded in the feed paths, held back by the gate. Shortly thereafter the gate is lowered and new loaves slide down to where lead ends of the new loaves abut trailing ends of the initial loaves being sliced. The new loaves are driven into the cutting plane trailing the initial loaves. Loaves are sequentially and continuously loaded in this manner, lead end-to-trailing end, in abutting contact with the preceding loaves.
One problem associated with this arrangement is the fact that for loaves to be properly loaded into a continuous slicing machine, the loaves must have their ends trimmed to a flat condition so the loaves will fit flushly against preceding loaves. Thus, the noticeable interface or seam between successive loaves, where slices can be ragged or irregular, can be minimized.